California Alcoholic Beverage Control

Here’s a more complete description of California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) license types.

Crime and Justice

Data Sources
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data – over 16k datasets, reports, documents relating to criminal justice
Los Angeles Times Crime Mapping resources

PourSafe Data Guide

Standards and Conventions
Crosswalk – standards for normalizing crime data reporting.

We utilize a variety of resources to learn more about issues. Some of these include:
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Problem Assessment

Business-Community Coalition Models

State and Local Regulation and Enforcement

Integrated Strategies and Solutions

Best Practices

Land-Use, Permitting and Sustainability Models

  • Ventura County Limits - CUP
    Ventura policies include a CUP, a DAO, and also a dedicated police officer to monitor, enforce and work with alcohol-licensed businesses to ensure best business practices. This officer is funded with a sliding-scale fee paid by these businesses. As a result of these policies, Ventura has experienced a 62% drop in arrests at alcohol businesses; a 42% drop in calls for service related to alcohol businesses; and a 31% drop in DUI related crashes.

    The Ventura City, CA CUP went a step farther and attached these requirements to at risk alcohol licensees, not necessarily all licensees. Their program also includes a fee component, whereby the licensees pay a sliding scale fee each year to fund the program and an enforcement component including an Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) trained San Diego Police Officer. This officer works with current and new licensees to develop a set of conditions, from a palette of 300 various conditions, that both make the playing rules very clear to the establishment as well as help blend the business into the community environment.

    Here are the components of the Ventura Program. Also, here’s a link to the Ventura Police Department’s page on the CUP.

    This is the complete kit for the Ventura City Responsible Retailer Program. The kit is delivered in a professionally crafted presentation folder which contains several documents, a window decal and news clipping about the program.

    Brochure  |  Pamphlet  |  Poster

     

     

    vcl_bestpractices_tn-150x1501

    This guide includes the outline for the entire program including the reasoning for regulating alcohol licensees, legal framework and the tools communities have to do this work. The document also includes a model Conditional Use Permit (CUP) ordinance for a city in California – which is very helpful so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

    Click here for the full document.

     

    vcl_spotlight_pold_tn-150x1501This document discusses key findings in the Place of Last Drink studies done by the Ventura County Behavioral health Department’s Alcohol and Drug Prevention Division. The place of last drink is the information captured when people are arrested for impaired driving. It reveals the demographic and other key information about when, where and how much people drank prior to getting arrested.

    Click here for the full document.

     

  • Fullerton, California
    >>Place Fullerton information here<<
  • The Pittsburgh, PA South Side Flats Model
    Led by Councilmember Bruce Kraus, this is a multi-year effort to build relationships among dozens of stakeholders to improve the nightlife atmosphere in the South Side neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Other Cities
  • Massachusetts
    The Saving Lives program was instituted in Massachusetts during 1987-1993 and included a wide variety of partner-stakeholders conducting a wide variety of interventions. These include everything from communities introducing media campaigns, business information programs, speeding and drunk driving awareness days, speed-watch telephone hotlines, police training, high school peer-led education, Students Against Drunk Driving chapters, college prevention programs, alcohol-free prom nights, beer keg registration, and increased liquor outlet surveillance. “…during the five years that the program was in operation, cities that received the Saving Lives intervention experienced a 25% greater decline in fatal crashes than the rest of Massachusetts. This general statistic reflected a 42% reduction in fatal auto crashes within the experimental communities and a 47% reduction in the number of fatally injured drivers who tested positive for alcohol.”
  • Various Community Models
    Here are some communities that have implemented various programs such as a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), Deemed Approved Ordinance (DAO) or a Responsible Beverage Service (RBS):
    • Huntington Beach – No drinking games
    • Berkeley – DAO, RBS
    • Fullerton – CUP
    • Garden Grove – CUP
    • Oakland – CUP, DAO
    • Oxnard – CUP, DAO, RBS
    • Rohnert Park – CUP, DAO, RBS
    • Santa Rosa – CUP, DAO
    • Vallejo – CUP, DAO
    • Ventura – CUP, DAO, RBS

City of San Diego Policies

Other Model Policy

Tax Policy

If you have additional resources please contact us with your suggestions.